Billionaire's Forbidden Baby: BWWM Interracial Alpha Male Baby Romance Novel (15 page)

“Fine,” Kiara said with a small voice, desperation washing over her.

“Good. I’ll book the time,” Eliza said, obviously relieved. “Go wait downstairs. I don’t need you bursting into tears while I’m talking to Doctor Taylor.”

Eliza shoved a couple of Kleenexes in Kiara’s hands and pointed her towards the door. Clearly some of the turmoil Kiara was feeling inside was beginning to show.

Stumbling almost blindly, Kiara got up, grabbed her purse and her jacket, and headed out of the door. She ran through the corridors of the posh clinic and clambered down the stairs in such a hurry that she thought she would break her ankles if she took just one wrong step. When she managed to make it outside, she sat down on a bench near Eliza’s golden Ferrari and gasped a breath.

Air flooded her lungs in tortured chokes, her heart beating as fast as a hummingbird’s in her chest. Kiara clutched her purse with both hands, her fingers digging into the hard Saffiano leather, and the sobs coming freely now. She’d tried so damn hard to get her emotions about the whole thing under control, and the night with Damien some days ago had assured her that if she were to have the baby, she would have been glad that it was Damien’s. Even if he’d never be a part of the kid’s life.

But now, Eliza had managed to sweep away all that happy, if somewhat anxious certainty with one snap of her well-manicured fingers. Kiara was left a heaving mess once again, and this time, she really didn’t know what she was going to do.

You can’t go through with this… But what if it’s the only way?

CHAPTER TWENTY

Kiara

“So as you can see, our plan would net you significant profits within the next six-month period, which should lead nicely into seasonal holiday sales as well. You can check all of the numbers I’ve cited today in your information packets, and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me or anyone here at Mirrorview at your leisure.”

Kiara smiled brightly, casting a look around the conference room. Several heads were nodding, and she felt relieved that she hadn’t been laughed out of the room.

It wasn’t that she didn’t have faith in her work – in fact, she knew for certain that the plan she and the rest of the team had put together for Divinad was good, maybe even brilliant. It’s just that she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was some sort of an imposter there, surrounded by people who knew better than she did.

The feeling was only compounded by the cold, heartless stare that was locked on her throughout her pitch. Eliza Whitcomb-Divinad remained as unimpressed as ever.

There was another person in the room who kept a close eye on her and whose gaze she avoided just as masterfully.

“If there are no immediate questions to Mirrorview Group, then I think it’s time to wrap things up and call it a night. We’ll meet tomorrow morning to discuss the terms of the plan with the Divinad board,” Damien said conversationally, sweeping a look over the Divinad execs, before nodding shortly to Gwyneth and the rest of Mirrorview.

“Thank you for that wonderful presentation,” Damien said, this time directly locking eyes with Kiara.

She had no way of looking away. Softly, she smiled and bowed her head.

“My pleasure,” Kiara said, trying to ignore the twisting in her stomach.

Looking at him was just about impossible. She had been hiding behind her excuse of having to work for more than a week now, and he had remained relentless. She was met by another bouquet, invitation or reminder that Damien had her on his mind every step she took. And every time that happened, she wanted to throw caution to the wind and just run to him and hide in his strong embrace.

One look at Eliza washed all those dreamy thoughts out to sea again. Kiara lowered her eyes and shuffled through her papers, trying to put her things together and get out of the Divinad offices as fast as she possibly could before anyone noticed her. The crowd of twenty or so executives were all conversing amongst one another, and Kiara could hear her name mentioned favorably a few times.

It made her proud. She knew her work was good, and seeing as she’d slaved over it for months, it was bound to be. Still, some recognition was nice. As if on call, Gwyneth appeared by Kiara’s side just as she’d gathered her bag and was ready to set off.

“That was great, Kiara! You hit everything like a pro,” Gwyneth gushed, sharing compliments.

That was highly unlike Gwyneth. The sudden attention almost made Kiara blush. She wasn’t quite used to hearing anything really
good
about her work from her chronically displeased boss.

“Thanks, Gwyneth,” Kiara said, trying to push past her and get to the door.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Damien slowly making his way to her, only stopped occasionally by an outstretched hand or a call from some of the senior staffers.

“We should go out and celebrate! I was thinking about taking most of the team to the Orange Room for some drinks. There’s nothing we can do anymore but wait and hope they hear the voice of reason. No way in hell that those fossils at Sunstreak Advertising can beat our modern take. I bet they’re going to suggest printing spreads or something.”

Gwyneth crinkled her nose in obvious displeasure, making her seem like a wolf growling. Gwyneth was a take-no-prisoners kind of businesswoman, and it was a quality Kiara admired in her and wished she herself possessed. She’d almost managed to pull off being a relentless corporate chick, but then Damien happened.

Swallowing her wry smile, Kiara gave a noncommittal shrug and ducked past Gwyneth.

“I’ll think about it. I’m sorry, I really need to run now!” Kiara called over her shoulder to the surprised-looking Gwyneth.

Her hand was already on the handle of the glass door when a sultry, deep voice called after her.

“Miss Lockett! I need to have a word with you, if you don’t mind.”

Kiara froze on the spot. She hadn’t been as fast as she needed to be. Steeling herself, Kiara closed her eyes for a second and said a little prayer, begging to the higher forces that she could keep a straight face when talking to Damien.

Before she could spin around, Damien was there, looming over her. His hand touched hers as he pushed the door open for her and gave her his trademarked rogue smile.

“I’ll take the silence as a yes, Miss Lockett. My office is just down the hallway,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear but low enough that she could feel the rumble it created in his chest as it reverberated through her.

She gulped and nodded, conjuring a warm smile on her lips.

“Of course, Mister Thatch. I’ll see you later, Gwyneth,” she said, turning to her boss.

She noticed the way Eliza was glaring daggers at her, arms crossed over her chest. That almost made it worth it – pissing off Eliza had become a bit of a hobby of Kiara’s. Despite her reluctance to be stuck in a room with the scorching hot billionaire, she had to admit that she didn’t mind the fact that it was probably giving Eliza heartburn.

Damien fell into step with Kiara as he led her down the hallway. She found herself clinging to her purse, as if it were some kind of lifeline that would keep her afloat. Even walking next to Damien made her knees go to jelly, and she felt the inexplicable desire to swoon like a fangirl meeting her biggest idol.

Just knowing the things his tongue could do to her, and the way his body felt under her touch… Or how his huge cock felt when he thrust in and out of her… Ugh. Made it damn hard to concentrate, even on walking.

She’d managed to combat that distraction during the meeting by pretending he wasn’t even in the room, but it was a lot harder when it was just the two of them. Damien showed her to his office, and she stepped in uncertainly. She bit the inside of her mouth as she heard him lock the door from the inside.

Kiara walked to the big windows, looking out on Los Angeles. The city was teeming underneath them, people going about their little lives, completely unaware that Kiara was suffering through the worst case of could-she-couldn’t-she she thought possible. A part of her wanted desperately to throw herself at him, to kiss him until he let out that sexy growling noise he made when he was enjoying himself, and to have him fuck her right on his office table.

Yet, the other, equally as big a part of her, wanted to put as much distance between her and Damien as she could, lest she tell him everything she wasn’t supposed to.

“You did a good job with the presentation, Kiara. I like that you really used the info I gave you when we talked on the boat,” Damien said idly, walking up behind her.

He put his hand on her waist like it was the most natural thing, and her breath hitched a little. He just chuckled, leaning in behind her and planting featherlight kisses on her neck – the kind that make a girl squirm and beg for more. But no, she had to be strong.

Kiara pulled away from his touch, and it almost killed her to see the surprise on his face.

“Anything wrong?” he asked, wiping the look away and again becoming the Damien Thatch the world knew – impassive, powerful, commanding.

It was only Kiara that knew that he was hiding a softer side to him, one that looked to love and to be loved. It was that side of him that she had to keep as far away from herself as possible.

“Yes. We can’t do this anymore,” she said, fighting to keep the tremble out of her voice.

His touch still burned hot on her body, reminding her of all the things she’d missed so badly. Since she’d seen him last, she’d spent most of her free time wallowing in her own personal misery, and when she wasn’t busy with that, she had been moaning into her pillow, thinking of him. She had kept the shirt he had loaned her during their visit to the Napa Valley mansion, and she had worn it almost every day. It was getting kind of pathetic, really.

“Why not?” he asked, walking to the bar and pouring himself a drink.

She wondered if it was just so he could keep his back to her for a bit, so she couldn’t see his face as she talked.

“Because you’re my boss, sort of. And even if you don’t hire Mirrorview, I’m still far too close to you. I want to make a career in this town, and that can’t happen if people think I’m sleeping my way to the top.”

The words felt like poison as she spoke them. They even hurt her, let alone him. Kiara wanted to scream that they weren’t true, but she couldn’t. For herself, for her baby. Eliza had set an appointment for Kiara to terminate the pregnancy in a few days, and Kiara was convinced that if she spent more time with Damien, she’d end up breaking and telling him all about it before she could rein herself in.

She wasn’t sure if she was going to go through with the abortion. But Eliza had given her no choice but to understand that keeping it and telling Damien was not an option. Soon she would start to show, and even if she kept it, Damien would realize that it could be his. She didn’t want to drag him into this, and she wanted even less to mar his name with some interracial baby drama that would have been a prime candidate for all the gossip rags from here to China.

“So you’re saying you won’t see me anymore because I’m bad for your career?” Damien queried, turning around.

He looked perfectly impassive, almost smirking. That cut Kiara. His blue eyes were hazed over, but every fiber of his being told Kiara that she was making far too big of a fuss of the whole thing. Hell, maybe all those flowers had come from his secretary? Maybe all those messages were from some kind of messaging service, just there to make her think she was special, when actually, she was just like any other girl he was fucking?

The floor fell away from under Kiara, and she swallowed the tears she knew were coming. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

“Yes. It was fun, but I think it’s time to stop.”

Damien looked at her wordlessly. He set down his drink without having taken a sip of it and inclined his head thoughtfully.

“Perhaps you’re right.”

Kiara was shuddering all over as if she were coming down with a bad flu. Every nerve in her told her that she was making a mistake and that the right thing to do was to run to him, wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him like the world was ending. But she didn’t.

“Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?” she asked, forcing the words out, though her throat felt like it would collapse any second.

“Just that you send those materials to us digitally as well, along with your presentation slides. We need to go over them with the board tomorrow morning,” Damien replied, walking back to the door and unlocking it.

He pulled it open and held it for Kiara. She paused for a moment, her hazel eyes meeting his blues. It felt so… final. For a second, all the time they had spent together flashed before her eyes – all those hot, stolen moments on his boat, at the offices, in his bed. The way he could kiss her and she would feel her body come alive under his touch. The way his cock throbbed when she swirled her tongue over the head.

Fuck. Don’t think about any of it,
she told herself desperately, her nails digging into her purse.

She walked out of his office, and as she stepped out, his voice rang after her.

“Goodbye, Kiara,” he said.

It cut like a knife.

The door closed behind her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Damien

Damien hadn’t left the office for more than five hours a day for the past four days. The time he did spend away from being chained to his desk, laptop and phone were spent partying at the hottest clubs in L.A., trying to get blackout drunk, and failing miserably.

As much as he may have wanted to deny it, Kiara’s words had stung like hell. He visibly cringed when he remembered walking her out of that very office, and he scuffed his hand through his sandy hair, his brows furrowing.

Just work. Don’t think about her,
he chanted to himself, willing himself to keep her off his mind.